How tariffs will impact wedding flowers
I wanted to take a moment to update on the impact of tariffs for our current and future clients. The floral industry is incredibly, almost fascinatingly, global. In Portland, we’re so lucky to have a thriving local grower scene and yet I still import about 40% of our flowers from international wholesalers. Sweet peas from Japan, orchids from Thailand, ranunculus from Italy, roses from Ecuador, these are just a few of our commonly imported products. Additionally, a lot of the hard goods that we use are mass produced in Asia.
As we all know by now, tariffs for imported goods have been applied as of today by varying degrees and we’ll see in the coming days, weeks and months how that affects prices. It’s safe to say they’ll be going up, but it still feels like a bit of a guessing game by how much and/or how long they will last. Honestly, the past few days as a small business owner I’ve had a similar unknowing, almost sickening feeling similar to March 2020. That said, I’ve been gathering a ton of information from wholesalers and online resources and do feel like I know as much as I possibly can for now.
So, what does it all mean for our clients…
For our current clients with signed contracts we will certainly be honoring the pricing within those contracts. I’ll be covering any tariff fees, so you’ll still get the full value of your original proposals.
In the future pricing will be going up. I wish I could say by exactly how much but, honestly, I just don’t know yet. My best guess would be 10-20%. A lot of that is going to depend on the trickle down to our local farmers and other vendors.
I’ll keep you updated as I learn more. As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Please refrain from political commentary.
